City could reap thousands from controversial costume blood

Friday

Jun 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 27, 2008 at 7:05 PM

Ed Berman, owner and president of Tropical Products Inc. on Highland Avenue, had no idea of the controversy that would follow when he volunteered to produce a line of costume blood to raise money for the city of Salem.

Lisa Guerriero

A 2-ounce bottle of liquid is causing quite a stir in Salem.

Ed Berman, owner and president of Tropical Products Inc. on Highland Avenue, had no idea of the controversy that would follow when he volunteered to produce a line of costume blood to raise money for the city of Salem.

“I know the city’s been in dire straits for money. I wanted to make a donation because the city’s been really great to work with,” said Berman, who moved his 15-year-old business to Salem four years ago.

Berman’s company creates and packages a host of products — from soap to dog shampoo to sex lubricants — that are sold in major franchises around the U.S., including Target and Wal-Mart. While the majority of their output is high-end personal care and pet care products, their merchandise includes costume blood, also called stage blood. It’s the type of product used around the country by people dressing up horror-movie style for Halloween.

Tropical Products makes about a million orders of the costume blood every year, and now they’re producing a line to benefit the city of Salem. Berman says he’ll make 25,000 bottles of Haunted Happenings Costume Blood by the end of July, to be sold by local vendors over the summer and during Halloween.

He’s recommending the city sell the product to shopkeepers for $1.50 a bottle, which means the city could potentially take home $40,000 in a time when municipal budgets are painfully tight all around and there have been layoffs in the school system.

The shops could sell the product for a few dollars each, Berman suggested, so they’ll turn a profit as well. His only caveat was that the city works with him directly, so that no outside agency would end up with a portion of the proceeds.

“The money has got to stay in the city,” Berman says he told city officials. “Other than that, use the money how you see fit.”

Officials were on board with the idea and plans began to roll out to design the label with the Haunted Happenings logo and pitch it to local vendors, especially tourist shops where the product would best sell.

The blood, however, has struck a nerve — or a vein — because the bottles they’re being packaged in bear the Haunted Happenings logo, which includes the image of a witch flying on a broomstick. For some, the connection to the violence of 1692 was too much.

“It’s in poor taste to ever have anything with a witch say blood on it,” Laurie Stathopoulos, a Salem witch who owns the Crow Haven Corner shop on Essex Street.

Once word started circulating the city, residents were soon debating the proposal in conversation and local blogs and message boards.

Kate Fox is the director of Destination Salem, the city’s public-private tourism agency, which has been involved in planning the rollout of Haunted Happenings Costume Blood.

Fox said the city and Tropical Products had only good intentions in producing the blood. The only reason a witch is pictured on the bottle is that it’s part of the Haunted Happenings logo, and it’s a Haunted Happenings product.

“We worked really hard to make sure the packaging and messaging was correct, was tasteful and was not offensive,” she said.

A boon for the city?

The costume blood will be a successful piece of merchandise for both the city and vendors, Fox believes.

“It’s really good fit for Haunted Happenings. It was a donation and it was a genuine donation and we didn’t feel we could say no,” she said. “The price point is good for a souvenir — people looking for makeup for Halloween, or something to take home.”

Several retailers are already lined up to sell the product, and the city only recently began to spread the word. It may also be sold at the city’s official Halloween site, www.hauntedhappenings.org.

It’s hard to say whether the full $40,000 could be raised for the city, but Fox said she’s hopeful that $10,000 may be generated.

“It’s seems like a reasonable figure. (25,000 bottles is) a lot of product,” she said. “We have hundreds of thousands of people come in, and a number of special events, and we may be able hit that number.”

Berman said Tropical Products is shipping out two trailer-tractors worth of costume blood every day to novelty shops and box stores around the country, adding up to about a million orders per year. With Salem’s specialized market at its peak during the summer and fall, he’s confident the merchandise will generate significant funds to help the city where he does business.

”It might take four months, but hopefully by the end of the Halloween season they’ll be sold out,” said Berman.

Any money raised will go toward Haunted Happenings funding, which itself turns a profit for the city. Last year, even after the cost of public safety and cleanup, the events brought in more than $200,000 for Salem.

The witch trials history remains what Salem is known for, but Destination Salem continues to promote Salem as a year-round destination for shopping, maritime history, art, dining and more. While the blood is a Haunted Happenings product, it isn’t the agency’s focus.

”I hope the blood doesn’t tarnish that for too long,” said Fox.

Blood money or innocent fun?

The debates came down to two basic questions: Is the costume blood a wise marketing plan that’s all in good fun, or does it create a connection between fake plasma and the real blood that was shed in 1692 by accused witches?

Stathopoulos is part of the second camp. The intentions were good, she said, but not well thought out.

“I don’t want my son or his friends to see that and associate blood with witches,” she said.

Stathopoulos noted the city is just coming off of another controversy involving witches, when raccoon remains were left outside of two shops last year. The incident made the city and witchcraft look bad even though it was an isolated incident that doesn’t represent them, she said. She fears a product like this, that’s sanctioned by the city, could create another negative image of Salem and its witches.

Next year, if the fundraiser is offered up again, Stathopoulos said she’d like the city and Tropical Products to consult with a few local witches about a different marketing scheme.

“If you’re not a witch, you probably wouldn’t understand that it is a complicated issue,” she said.

Berman said the product isn’t about the witch trials at all, it’s part of the playful aspect of Halloween in Salem. The blood is intended mostly for tourists, who he believes will buy it not because of a correlation to the past, but to enhance a costume and take home a souvenir.

“It’s a touristy business. Halloween is a fun holiday,” he said. “Anything with a reference to Halloween, Salem, Mass. sells.”

Some witches have spoken out in support of the product, saying the branding is linked to Haunted Happenings and images that aren’t based in reality — either the accused of 1692 or Salem’s modern-day witches. Others say they don’t like the branding of the product, but they have to contend with worse stereotypes.

“The hats, green faces, the brooms and all that, it does get me aggravated. So I can see why folks are upset about it,” said Shaina Rae, a Salem witch. “But as far as stereotypes go, this is one of the lesser ones.”

“At the end of the day, there’s so much from Hollywood and Halloween that’s taken out of context,” Rae added. “You can’t get up in arms about it, especially knowing it’s for good cause.”

Witches aren’t the only ones concerned. Some residents and historians have criticized the product as exploitative, while others say fake blood has nothing to do with the witch trials. Sandra Power is among the Salem residents and witches who aren’tbothered by the packaging of the new product.

“I think it’s amusing that’s it’s controversial, because to me it’s just like when you walk into Staples and the Staples logo is on everything. It certainly doesn’t mean there are staples in every product,” Power said. “To me it doesn’t mean whatever’s in bottle has anything to do with witches. It’s just, this is their marketing, this is their logo.”

The city and Destination Salem are aware of the need for sensitivity from working with historical groups and witch organizations, Fox said.

Given the concerns that have come forward, and the fact that the product is just one small part of the Haunted Happenings, advertising efforts will be reserved.

“The promotion and marketing is not going to be particularly public and overt,” said Fox. “You’re not going to seeing billboards on Route 1 saying, ‘buy the blood.’ There’s not going to be a TV campaign, no videos.”

Still, even those who dislike the packaging have faith in the buying power of summer and fall tourists.

“Anyone could sell anything around Halloween,” said Stathopoulos, “and it will probably fly.”